White's campaign war chest is robust

By R.G. Ratcliffe - Houston Chronicle

Published 3:28 pm, Thursday, July 15, 2010

AUSTIN — Former Houston Mayor Bill White is starting his general election challenge of Gov. Rick Perry with a $3 million advantage in money in the bank, according to finance reports released by their campaigns Thursday.

The latest public opinion poll, which came out Thursday, showed White will need whatever advantage he has. Perry led 50 percent to 41 percent in the latest Rasmussen Reports survey of 500 likely Texas voters, with a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

In polls since the March primary, Perry has stayed in the mid- to high 40 percent range, while White has wavered between the high 30s and low 40s.

But although Perry has outraised White overall, the Democratic challenger announced he will begin the fall campaign with more than $9 million in the bank, while the GOP incumbent launches with $5.8 million.

White also held a slight edge on Perry in the amount of money raised since roughly the March primaries. White raised $7.4 million between late February and June 30, while Perry raised a little more than $7 million, according to the campaigns.

Perry has a history of winning elections despite being outspent, including by a three-to-one margin by millionaire Tony Sanchez in 2002; Perry trounced him.

However, White's financial lead over Perry in this campaign should give the Democrats a psychological edge as the race begins heating up next month.

“For Bill White, the numbers indicate that he's competitive. That's significant,” said Austin consultant Bill Miller. “Of course, Tony Sanchez showed that money alone will not buy a race. Money alone will not do it, but you've got to have it to be in the race.”

“They've had no money, no opportunity to get up on television. With Bill White, you'd have to say he's running with the wind in his hair — if he had any hair,” Jillson said.

Perry collected 97 percent of his money in Texas. White got 71 percent of his cash in the state and a quarter of it from Washington, D.C., with more than $1 million coming from the Democratic Governors Association.

A check of IRS filings shows a lot of the association money originated in the Houston area, including $400,000 from trial lawyer Steve Mostyn.

Democrats had complained after the 2006 election that the Republican Governors Association donated $1 million to Perry after receiving like donations from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry.

White's financial advantage in this race is due, in part, to the fact that Perry had a brutal primary contest with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and activist Debra Medina. Perry spent more than $15.4 million to defeat the two.

White, meanwhile, got through his primary without a serious struggle — despite the fact businessman Farouk Shami spent more than three times the $3 million that White put in to win the Democratic nomination.

Through the current election cycle, Perry has outraised White. The governor has taken in $20 million for his re-election, while White has gathered $16.6 million. White claimed to have 16,000 donors for the election cycle; Perry claimed almost 15,000.